June 3, 2006 Magic

[MarkS]

Cast
Myself – Mark
My wife – Julie
My daughter – Briana (13)

Traveling Companions
Doug, Sandra, Sarah (14) and Deanna (20)

Leadup
In the spring of 2005, my wife and I decided to celebrate our next anniversary with a Disney cruise. Since our anniversary falls in December, our daughter is in school, and Julie is a teacher, we decided on June cruise. This would be our third Disney cruise. Our first was a 3-day with my parents and my sister’s family in October of 2002 (teacher in-service date). Our second was a 4-day with my wife’s parents in March of 2003 (spring break).

We decided to ask friends of ours, who have a daughter our daughter’s age, to go with us. This decision wasn’t made lightly as I have a major complex about traveling with friends. Too often, I end up feeling as if it is my responsibility that they have a good time. It was their first cruise.

After we asked them to go, we needed to decide on a date and cruise. I ruled out the 3-day. If there is a cruise that could ruin your idea of a good cruise, it is the 3-day cruise. When we went on our first cruise, we had an 8 o’clock flight. That meant getting up way too early for the 2-hour drive to the airport. We were held up at the layover airport because the President was in town. I think we were the last people to get on the ship. It was way too rushed to enjoy the first day. Then the whole cruise is over too fast. It seemed like we spent as much time in airports as we did on the Wonder.

We looked at spring break and early June cruises, deciding that the June dates gave us more flexibility since my wife wouldn’t have to go right back to work when we returned. It didn’t take too much arm-twisting to convince our wives that a 7-day cruise was the best deal.

I really hadn’t done any investigating on western versus eastern itineraries. The date of the western, June 3, cruise just seemed to work well.

Doug and I are the researchers in the group. I spent a lot of time on the web checking out trip reports. I know Doug did quite a bit of reading too. Julie and Sandra are a lot more easy going. Had I known how well this trip would work out, I wouldn’t had any anxiety about traveling with friends.

I had a list of Web sites that I used for research, but because I'm new here, I can't list them.


We did do some things that aren’t really recommended to save money. We booked the whole trip through the Disney website, ground transportation and all. I know we could have arranged ground transportation that would have been cheaper, but it is nice that Disney takes care of everything for you. We also booked our excursion through the ship (more on that later.) I also just rented a tuxedo on the ship. Doug found one on sale for $10 more than my rental, but again, I opted for the easy way out. I have no idea when I would wear a tuxedo again anyway.

We did decide to stay in Kansas City the Friday night before we left. This makes the first day of a trip so much nicer. Sandra is a frequent traveler and knows tons of ins and outs of travel. We valet parked our cars at Thrifty car rental and caught their bus to our gate much quicker and for the same price at long-term parking at the airport.

I had a panic moment in the airport when Doug mentioned that he found a Carnival cruise that went to the same stops for about $1,000 a person less. (there goes my complex!)

After 9/11, Kansas City didn’t offer direct flights to Orlando, so it was a pleasant surprise to find out that we had a direct flight. Our plane turned out to be the smallest commercial flight I have ever been on. It was only about 30 seats long, but other than needing to watch my head, the flight was great.

Upon arrival in Orlando, I didn’t think that we were given the same help to the bus area that we had had in the past. I seemed to think that we would see signs directing us there. On our first cruise, I think someone met us at our gate (of course we were horribly late.) I ended up not going down far enough and getting us disoriented. They have also changed the desks around to get on the busses. Of course, maybe it was from being disoriented from getting off the plane outside! Soon enough, we were on our way!

(Next up On the Ship!)

 

[Ker-Bear]

keep it coming!

 

[tink2020]

Looking forward to reading this! We were on the Wonder at the same time you were on the Magic, and we're booked on a 7-day for next fall! can't wait to hear about it!

 

[RobinMarie]

More More!

 

[tjeagle]

I'm on the edge of my seat!

 

[Kimberly815]

Can't wait to hear more!

Just booked our first cruise for Sept 1, 2007! It is an Eastern, but I am looking forward to your reports of the ship!

 

[lUVTOGO]

Great Start! Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[MarkS]

On the ship
The trip from the airport to Port Canaveral was the final bit of waiting. From tips I learned on this board, we sat on the left side of the bus, so we could see the Magic as we crested the hill. As always, I found it to be an awe-inspiring site.

There was more of a line to get into the port than I had experienced on our last two cruises. Again, I was glad I wasn’t dealing with any checked baggage. We made it through security fine and headed up to check in. Sandra headed to the U.S. guests line, and I headed off to the Castaway Club line, expecting to beat her through. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that my line took longer than hers did. Since I won’t have many things to gripe about in this report, this will be one of them. Disney knows the Magic has a large number of return cruisers; it would be nice to have more Cast Members waiting on us. (In contrast, on my second cruise, a 4-day, the line situation seemed to be reversed.) As a head’s up, this is as big of a gripe as I will have about our cruise.

We were late enough getting to port that we were able to go right onto the Magic. Disney has the idea of creating an entrance down. I really feel like I am leaving the reality of my world and entering a magical Disney world. I think our friends zoomed right past their introduction, but we were finally there!

We were also late enough that we were able to go to our rooms right away. I always hated going up to eat with my carry-on bags. We were staying in 2083 and 2085, adjoining rooms. It was nice having rooms on deck 2. On the past two cruises, we were on deck 6, which was nice too… wait, I don’t think I have had a room location that I couldn’t find something I like about.

We did move up to a category 10 room with the split bath. Our previous cruises had been in category 11 or 12 rooms. For the little bit more this room cost, it was well worth it. The ability to have multiple people getting ready at once worked out great. It ended up being my daughter and I at night as Julie went to the spa every afternoon for the Rain Forest room. I don’t know what she liked about it, but for her, it was the best deal in the spa as it was a pay once for unlimited use sort of thing.

This is the first cruise where I think we unpacked at all. Our room was still crowded with the empty suitcases, but not bad. I wish I knew what our friends did with their stuff because their room was always neat. Sandra said that keeping it neat was the only way they could keep their sanity with four people in the room.

The adjoining rooms worked out well too. We ended up opening the doors between our rooms to knock and see if they were ready quite often. Briana and Sarah propped the doors open when it was just them in the rooms and they could move back and forth between the rooms.

We headed up to Topsiders for lunch. (I have to apologize if I mess up the names of the restaurants on the ship. I was constantly calling Lumiere’s, Tritons, much to the amusement of Julie.)

The meal at Topsiders set the tone for the cruise I think because everyone enjoyed it. I am not a big buffet guy, but even I liked this buffet. Our friends liked the shrimp and seemed impressed with the quality of the food.

We headed down to Rock’n Bar D to change our Palo reservations. Each couple had been able to make reservations for two and we really wanted reservations for five. The switch went flawlessly. I am amazed the the CM's abilty to remember guests. It turned out that the CM who changed our reservation was our waitress the next day and remembered us. ("Ah... your're 2 plus 2 equals 5.) While we were there, we also made reservations for the Palo brunch. They both ended up on Sunday. I was worried about two Palo times on the same day.

Back to the rooms for the lifeboat drill. I didn’t realize that some groups gathered right by the lifeboats. In the past, I had always met in Animator’s Pallete. Meeting outside for the drill made the time pass quickly. It helps that I am tall enough to be able to see over everyone lined up in front of me.

After the lifeboat drill with the new and improved life vests, we headed out on our own to get ready for the sail-away party. My tuxedo was waiting for me in my room. A good vacation involves other people looking out for you, and a Disney cruise most definitely involves other people looking out for me.

I don’t know that I saw our housekeeper more than once or twice during our cruise, but that had a lot to do with the fact that we spent time sleeping there, but very little other time. I don’t think my family would get the use out of an outside room as we were out of the room almost all day. Briana and Sarah did escape back to the room for occasional naps. They actually rested more than the adults.

I am not a person who dances in public, which I think my daughter would disown me if I did. So I have never experienced a sail-away party on Deck 9. We always observe from Deck 10. We were on the port (left) side of the ship, which I don’t think gives you as interesting view of leaving port. So as a hint, if you aren’t a big dancer, on your way out of port, the starboard (right) side of the ship is a lot more interesting to watch what while you are leaving port. I am interested in strange things if you ask my daughter. I enjoy watching the Coast Gaurd escort out. I think Deana (a good dancer), Julie and Sandra would have went down and danced on Deck 9 if they had some encouragement.

Shortly after the sail-away party, we headed down to get ready for the evening show and supper.

The opening night show was entertaining. I like the variety show format and gave me a taste what was to come. The ventriloquist was a riot. I wonder if he has ever had a volunteer break down on him though? He had a boy about 10 on stage with a mask on as his dummy. We ended up missing his act the next night as we didn't get out of Palo's early enough to make it to the late show.

We had the 8:30 seating for supper. I have always had late seating and wouldn’t change it since Briana is getting older. Our waiters, Tibor and Joseph were good. Joseph didn’t talk loudly enough for me and Tibor talked fast. I could hear and understand both when they were next to me, but had difficulty when they were at the other end of the table. Both of their command of English was good, it is just hard to hear for me in the large dining rooms.

We split the wine package with our friends. A bottle of wine a night split four ways came out about right. I wouldn’t do the wine package with just Julie and I, but I think we did save money on the seven bottles. Although we may not have drank as much as we did if we hadn’t bought the package.

Our dining rotation was LAPLAPL. I am glad we started in Lumier’s because the girls were still feeling brave about the food and that it was neat to be dressed up to go to supper. Briana ordered the escargot with the agreement to split it with me, but she had three, gave Sarah one, Julie one, and I got one. I should have ordered my own. I have never tried ordering two appetizers, but I bet they would be ok with it.

After supper, the four parents headed to Rock’n Bar D for the Match your mate game. It was hilarious. It also created three groups that we recognized and talked to when we saw them on the ship. The newlywed couple (6 days) was actually in the room right across the hall. The longest married couples two daughters were in there for the show, which was great from a spectator point of view. I can't imagine answering the "strangest place you've 'discovered the magic'" question in front of my daughter. The “crazy” couple, I don’t think I learned their names, we saw all the time. I don’t know if people like the recognition that being in the show creates, but we said hi to them every time we saw them. Or, we wispered "there's the crazy couple from Texas."

I have always slept great on our cruises. I don’t know if it is because it is incredibly dark in the room, or the motion of the ship or what, but I don’t think I remember a thing until Mickey called to wake me up. If I didn’t think a lighted clock would change the way I slept, I would admit that on other nights I woke up disoriented, wondering what time it was.

Up Next – Key West and two trips to Palo's

 

[RoyalVizier]

Since I'm almost done with my own trip report I can finally start bugging people to hurry up on theirs. Yeah, I get to be a bugger instead of the bugg-ee!

Loving what I'm reading. Keep going...

 

[Kimberly815]

A nice read to get me through a rough Friday!

Thanks!

 

[Tiggery]

Great report, keep it coming

 

[MarkS]

Sunday – Key West
Julie and I were up early and decided to go to the church service on the ship. The service was in Sessions. At first we wondered if anyone to lead the service, but a crew member from the Philippines lead a nondenominational service that was a good start to the day. The computer system that was used for the hymns was a little loud for me, but we sat right up front so it was probably fine in the back. I would have never noticed, but the windows behind the piano in Sessions pass as church stain glass windows

We headed back to the room to get Briana up. We had our Palo brunch today and told her and Sarah to take care of themselves. On our previous cruises we didn’t let Briana go anywhere by herself, so on this cruise, I think she enjoyed her independence, even though I felt like we were abandoning her.

Brunch at Palos. Brunch was a wonderful experience. The five “adults” were seated and given our champagne. Our server took us on a tour of the buffet. I like trying new things on vacation, so of course I tried the caviar. It wasn’t worth all the hype. All of the other foods I tried were wonderful. I like the fact that everything was served in small portions. I just kept going back and trying new things. The stolen bread with the jam, berries and whipped cream was the biggest thing I ate off the buffet and it was delicious. I had a crisis of conscious over the veal on the menu. I have never had veal, but felt guilty about ordering it. I don’t normally worry too much about it (especially since I ate the caviar) but I passed and had the steak omelet. Our server, Franchesca (I’m guessing at the spelling) had a wonderful sense of humor and didn’t seem to mind our questions or my kidding around. She knew we were coming back that evening for supper and told us to ask to be seated in her section.

Off to Key West. I had been in Key West almost 30 years ago, and had no idea what to expect this time. I had considered taking the Conch Train tour, because I think we did it the last time I was there. I don’t think there was a consensus in the group as to what we should do, so we headed off into town. I could tell early on that our friends were more interested in shopping than I was. My daughter could be converted to a shopper, but Julie and I don’t really enjoy the shopping. (Mostly because we blew the budget to make it on the cruise!) We split into our family groups and headed off on our own. We were looking for the farthest point south sign. My mom has a picture of our family in front of it, so I thought we needed one too. It was an interesting walk. If you don’t want your kids exposed to all sorts of vulgar t-shirts, I suggest finding a different way to get there. I think every third business was a bar and the business to the right was selling obscene t-shirts. I thought I was tolerant, but I saw things that wouldn’t be considered passable even though I live in a college town.

We did make it to the farthest south point. We took the pictures for the family ahead of us and they took ours. Briana was fascinated that the family that took our picture didn’t speak English, but we were still able to communicate with them.

We headed back and after stopping for drinks, started looking for a place to get a key lime pie. Briana stays in a much better mood if you keep her hydrated. If she starts getting thirsty, she gets to be a grump, but a can of Coke improves her mood. At least it is a cheap way to keep her happy.

We ended up at a Blonde Giraffe for a piece of Key Lime pie. Briana had ice cream and Julie and I split the pie. Julie didn’t like the pie, so I got the most of the piece myself.

We ended up running into our friends at the Blonde Giraffe. Since we hadn’t planned on a place or time to meet, I was surprised we ran into them again. It was getting into the afternoon, so we headed back to the ship.

Generally, we don’t do many excursions because we have a hard time agreeing on one we would all like. Briana is more interested in something exciting, and Julie is not an adrenaline junky at all. If we were to go back to Key West, I would find an excursion of some sort, because it is not a family friendly place to wander around. I think I could be convinced to stay on the ship too. I haven’t tried it, but my in-laws have said they stay on ships they’ve been on when they go to a port they don’t want to go to.

We were late enough that we missed the lunch times. I headed up to get a bite from Scoops and Briana got a hot dog. I had the grilled sandwich, which was ok, but a little short on the meat for me. I don’t understand ordering at Scoops. They had a sign up that said they had pasta, but nowhere did it say what kind. We went back to the room and ate. Julie went off to the rain forest room.

When Julie came back, we went up to get her a wrap. We went back down to deck 4 to eat, read and nap. The quietest place to relax and watch the ocean is on deck 4 in the padded lounge chairs. Other than it being a smoking area, it is a good place to rest. It seems contradictory to have the running deck also be a smoking deck, but who am I to question?

We had a 6:30 seating for Palo, so the five of us headed up to eat. Briana and Sarah went to Animator’s Pallete on their own. Our friends missed the show there, but the Palo experience more that made up for it. We did ask for Franchesca again, which worked out well. I don’t know how many courses they brought us, but I can’t believe the variety of food. We did ask for some of our appetizers and desserts to be served family style. That way, we could all try them. The food was wonderful. To plan it over, I would have ate at Palo on the Pirate night, but any night would be worth it. We stayed so long that we missed the late showing in the theater. It was the ventriloquist that we saw the opening night. Briana and Sarah said he was funny. I am so proud of those two for going to the show and the meal on their own.

On a side note, how do you tip at Palo? You can’t do 15% of the $20 it cost to eat there. I guessed that the meal would have cost $200 and worked from there. I felt rather unsophisticated at that point. Any pointers would be appreciated.

On another note, I would not hesitate to do two Palo trips in one day. We booked the brunch on the ship and that was the only time we could get. It was a lot of rich food, but walking around Key West burned off brunch just fine. The other thing that I have noticed is that the serving sizes at all the restaurants on the ship were never too big for me. I was thrilled by this a Palo as I could just keep trying new things.

This is where I should have been keeping a journal; because Miracle is listed twice in our Navigator and I don’t know which night we went to it at the pool. I think it was Sunday night, but it could have been Monday. It is a neat idea to have the movie by the pool, but we sat off to the side and couldn’t hear all that well. Julie fell asleep and went back to the room early.

So we called it a night and were ready for a rest on our day at sea.

 

[Timmbco]

The stollen bread at Palo, with jam, whipped cream and berries was to die for!!! I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it. Yumm!!!!

 

[firstmickey]

thanks for your report...Im looking forward to hearing the rest!

 

[Dixielady908]

Enjoying your report...looking forward to the rest.

Denise

 

[MarkS]

Monday at Sea
On out last cruise, the “at sea day” about did me in. I chased Briana from activity to activity. She did the frog races and drawing Mickey that I remember. This at sea day was a whole lot more relaxing. In fact, it has convinced me that a transition cruise would be wonderful.

We started out with breakfast at Topsiders, which I am relatively indifferent to. I had an omelet and lots of breakfast meat, which I don’t get at home.

We spent the morning exploring the ship and resting. The best lounge chairs are the padded ones on deck 4. We spent a little time there everyday.

We had lunch in Lumiere’s. I have said that I’m not much of a buffet fan; I do enjoy the lunches in Lumiere’s. I know it sounds snobbish, but I like having someone bring my food to me. The food selection at lunch is good too.

I tried to catch the virtual tour of the bridge on the Dumbo tron, but it is very short, so if you want to see it, be on time and in a place you can hear. There are sound dead spots out to the sides of the screen, where you can see, but not hear.

The first big activity of the day was the Stem to Stern Wine Tasting. We aren’t huge wine drinkers, but I did learn about different wines. It was fascinating to watch them sword the bottle of champagne. He got it on the first try too. Apparently, it took two tries on the previous cruise.

We did the martini tasting at 4 that afternoon. Now, wine at 2 and martinis at 4 may be a little too much. The atmosphere at the martini tasting was a lot more fun and not quite so educational. Julie and Sandra didn’t care for the straight martini, but liked the apple, chocolate and the cosmopolitan. Doug and I liked them all. They asked, “When is a martini not a martini?” Doug knew the answer, which won us another martini. So by the time we finished, we had four and a quarter martinis amongst us.

Another thing about traveling with friends; we are good enough friends that we didn’t feel uncomfortable sharing a drink or trying each other’s food. The cruise wouldn’t have been the same if we weren’t this comfortable with our friends.

I don’t know that I would recommend doing both the wine tasting and the martini tasting in one day, but we had a lot of fun. It also made us more at ease ordering drinks the rest of the cruise.

The show was the Golden Mickey’s. Definitely a high-quality Disney show.

We caught Freddy Fusion’s act in Rock’n Bar D between the Golden Mickey’s and Supper.

I don’t have much of recollection of supper and what we did after that. Could it have to do with doing the wine tasting and martini tasting in the same day?

Up Next – Grand Cayman